The WCHA Blog will touch on all aspects of Division I NCAA Men's Ice Hockey, but as the name suggests, this blog will primarily focus on the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, which is home to 10 teams that have combined to win a total of 36 national championships since its inception in 1951.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Four CC players suspended

Colorado College's senior captain Scott Thauwald, sophomores Andreas Vlassopoulos and Brian Connelly, and freshman Brett Wysopal were all suspended for two weeks and not allowed to participate in hockey team activities for "wearing blackface and costumes of characters in a TV show about a black family," according to an article in the Colorado Springs Gazzette.

UPDATE: The players will be allowed to play this weekend versus Minnesota. LetsGoDU will have continuing coverage as the story develops.

According to the story, the incident occurred at the team's preseason golf outing. The team divided itself into groups, which each group picking a different television show to represent. Groups chose “Baywatch,” “Entourage,” “WWE,” “Scrubs” and “The Office." The group of Thauwald, Vlassopoulos, Connelly, and Wysopal chose to dress up in wigs and makeup as members of the "Family Matters" show.

From the article:

The punishment included two weeks without hockey team activities and disciplinary probation for the rest of the school year. The players were required to meet with members of the local branches of the NAACP and the Urban League, and participate in a campus forum at the school’s multicultural residence, Glass House, with members of the Black Student Union.

“The intent was to have good costumes,” Thauwald said. “We realize now, even though there was no racial intent, that what we did was wrong. We’ve all learned a lot through the last couple of weeks, and we’ve apologized to the school and the people we directly affected, and I feel like a lot of the students were pretty welcoming to our apology. We made a mistake.”